Systems and methods for managing rights to broadband content

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for managing rights to broadband content are provided. A request for broadband content may be received by a server. The received request may include a client identifier associated with a customer device from which the request is received and a content identifier associated with the requested broadband content. Based at least in part upon the client identifier, a billing account associated with the customer device may be identified, and one or more users associated with the billing account may be identified. A set of access rights for the one or more users may be determined and, based upon an analysis of the set of access rights, a determination may be made as to whether access to the broadband content is authorized.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the invention relate generally to broadband content, and moreparticularly, to the management of access rights to broadband content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital rights management (“DRM”) is utilized to control access to awide variety of digital content, such as video and/or audio content.Typically, a content provider either directly or indirectly controlsaccess rights management for its digital content utilizing a rightslocker. Content providers maintain rights lockers that include accessinformation that is tied to various users or customers that have rightsto access digital content of the content provider. When a user desiresaccess to certain digital content, a rights locker is searched for auser profile or user account with the content provider, and adetermination is made whether to grant access to the requested digitalcontent based upon the accessed user account.

DRM solutions often present problems between content providers andservice providers, such as content distribution networks (e.g., cablenetworks, satellite television networks, etc.) or other media or contentdistribution systems. Content providers that generate and/or providecontent (e.g., audio-visual content, text-based content, non-text-basedcontent, graphic content, software applications, etc.) to distributionnetwork operators desire to protect the content and limit the use and/ordistribution of the content to authorized use and/or distribution.Similarly, service providers that distribute content or otherwisefacilitate the distribution of content to consumers desire to avoidresponsibility for downstream unauthorized uses. However, a serviceprovider may have difficulty in mapping its customers to the useraccounts stored in rights lockers maintained by the content providers.Typically, a service provider tracks customers using billing accounts,and multiple users may be tied to a billing account. In turn, any numberof rights accounts may be maintained in various rights lockers for thedifferent users. Based at least in part upon the disconnect betweenservice provider billing accounts and user rights accounts, contentproviders and service providers often struggle with providing a superiorDRM solution to distributed content.

Accordingly, improved systems and methods for managing rights tobroadband content are desirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Some or all of the above needs and/or problems may be addressed bycertain embodiments of the invention. Embodiments of the invention mayinclude systems and methods for managing rights to broadband content. Inone embodiment, a method for managing rights to broadband content may beprovided. A request for broadband content may be received from acustomer device by a server or other rights management system, such as aserver comprising one or more computers. The received request mayinclude a client identifier associated with the customer device and acontent identifier associated with the requested broadband content.Based at least in part upon the client identifier, a billing accountassociated with the customer device may be identified. One or more usersassociated with the billing account may then be identified, and a set ofaccess rights for the one or more users may be determined. Based upon ananalysis of the set of access rights, a determination may be made as towhether access to the broadband content is authorized.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a system formanaging rights to broadband may be provided. The system may include atleast one communications interface and at least one processor. The atleast one communications interface may be configured to receive, from acustomer device, a request for broadband content, the request includinga client identifier associated with the customer device and a contentidentifier associated with the requested broadband content. The at leastone processor may be configured to (i) identify, based upon the clientidentifier, a billing account associated with the customer device, (ii)identify one or more users associated with the billing account, (iii)determine a set of access rights for the one or more users, and (iv)determine, based upon an analysis of the set of access rights, whetheraccess to the broadband content is authorized.

Additional systems, methods, apparatus, features, and aspects may berealized through the techniques of various embodiments of the invention.Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detailherein with reference to the description and to the drawings and areconsidered a part of the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example system that may beutilized to manage rights to broadband content, according to an exampleembodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a flow diagram of an example method formanaging rights to broadband content, according to an example embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example method for determining accessrights for one or more users that are associated with a billing account,according to an example embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example method for determining whetheraccess to broadband content is authorized, according to an exampleembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention now will be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichembodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Embodiments of the invention may include systems and methods formanaging rights, such as access rights, to various broadband and/ordigital content. For purposes of this disclosure, the term “broadbandcontent” may be utilized to refer to any content for which access rightsmay be utilized to control access to the content. According to an aspectof the invention, an arbitration system or an arbitration processingmodule or processing component may be associated with a serviceprovider, such as a cable service provider, satellite service provider,Internet Protocol (“IP”) content provider, a digital media host, orother service provider that distributes content to consumers orcustomers via a suitable content distribution network. In certainembodiments, the arbitration system may receive a customer request fordesired broadband content (e.g., desired video content, desired audiocontent, etc.), and the arbitration system may determine whether accessto the desired content should be authorized. In doing so, thearbitration system may analyze access rights for any number of usersthat are associated with a billing account or other customer accountwith the service provider.

In one example embodiment, a request for desired content may include aclient identifier of a customer device that is utilized to submit therequest (e.g., an identifier of a set-top box, mobile device, etc.)and/or an identifier of the desired content. The arbitration system mayutilize the client identifier to determine or identify a billing accountassociated with the customer device. The arbitration system may thenidentify one or more users that are associated with the identifiedbilling account. Once the one or more users have been identified, thearbitration system may determine or identify access rights for each ofthe users. For example, the arbitration system may identify one or morerights locker accounts with various content providers that areassociated with each of the users, and the arbitration system maydetermine user access rights for each of the rights locker accounts. Asone example, a request for access rights information for a user accountmay be communicated to a rights locker, and access rights informationfor the user account may be determined based upon a received reply. Asdesired, received access rights information may be stored by thearbitration system.

Once access rights information has been determined and/or assembled foreach of the users associated with a billing account, the arbitrationsystem may analyze the access rights information in order to determinewhether access to the desired content is authorized. In certainembodiments, a determination may be made as to whether all of the usersthat are associated with a billing account are authorized to access thedesired content. If it is determined that all of the identified usersare authorized to access the content, then the customer device may bepermitted to access the requested content. If, however, it is determinedthat at least one user is not authorized to access the content, then adetermination may be made as to which users are authorized to access thecontent. A request for user identification information and/or accesscredentials or other authentication information may then be communicatedto the customer device in order to identify the requesting user. Useridentification and/or authentication information may then be returned tothe arbitration system and validated. Alternatively, user identificationand/or authentication information included in the received contentrequest may be analyzed. Based upon the analysis and/or validation ofidentification and/or authentication information, a requesting user maybe identified. A determination may then be made as to whether therequesting user is authorized to access the desired content.Additionally, as desired, the arbitration system may determine whetherthe customer device is capable of and/or permitted to be utilized toaccess the desired content.

According to an aspect of the invention, if no users are eligible toaccess the desired content and/or if a requesting user is not authorizedto access the desired content, the arbitration system may facilitateand/or direct the communication of an offer to the customer device thatfacilitates a purchase of the desired content. Based upon a receivedresponse to an offer, a determination may be made as to whether the userdesired to purchase access to the desired content. If the user desiresto purchase access, the arbitration system may facilitate the completionof a purchase transaction for the desired content and/or the update of arights locker account for the user that is associated with the contentprovider. The customer device may then be granted access to the desiredcontent.

System Overview

An example system 100 for managing rights to broadband content will nowbe described illustratively with respect to FIG. 1. The system 100 mayinclude, for example, an arbitration system 105, one or more customerdevices 110 or client devices, a session resource management system 115,an identity management system 120, a billing system 125, any number ofrights lockers 130 and/or rights locker management systems that areassociated with any number of content providers 135, one or morestorage/streamer systems 140, and/or an offer management system 145. Asdesired, one or more components of the system 100 may beprocessor-driven components or devices. Additionally, in certainembodiments, certain components of the system 100 may be combined. Forexample, a single processor-driven component may function as thearbitration system 105, identity management system 120, billing system125, and/or offer management system 145.

As desired, one or more of the aforementioned systems or systemcomponents can be embodied as any number of processor-driven devices,such as a server computer, a personal computer, a minicomputer, adigital tablet, and the like. As such, each component may include anynumber of processors, memory devices, input/output (“I/O”) interfaces,and/or network interfaces. A memory may store data and/or variousprogram logic, such as computer-executable or computer-implementedinstructions that may be executed by one or more processors.Accordingly, each component may include one or more processingcomponents configured for accessing and reading associatedcomputer-readable media having data stored thereon and/orcomputer-executable instructions for implementing the various methodsdescribed herein. By executing computer-executable instructions, each ofthese computer systems may form a special purpose computer or aparticular machine. As used herein, the term “computer-readable medium”may describe any form of computer memory or memory device.

With reference to FIG. 1, the arbitration system 105 may be a suitabledevice server, or other component that facilitates the receipt andprocessing of requests to access various broadband content, such asvarious digital content. The arbitration system 105 may be associatedwith an underlying service provider, such as a cable service provider,satellite service provider, or other service provider. The arbitrationsystem 105 may be a suitable processor-driven device that is configuredto execute computer-readable, computer-implemented, orcomputer-executable instructions. For example, the arbitration system105 may include one or more server computers, personal computers,digital assistants, personal digital assistants, digital tablets,Internet appliances, application-specific circuits, microcontrollers,minicomputers, or other processor-based devices. The execution ofsuitable computer-implemented instructions by the arbitration system 105may form a special purpose computer or other particular machine that isoperable to facilitate the receipt and processing of content requests.Although a single arbitration system 105 is illustrated, the operationsand/or control of the arbitration system 105 may be distributed amongany number of devices, computers, and/or processing components.

In addition to having one or more processors 152, the arbitration system105 may include one or more memory devices 154, one or more input/output(“I/O”) interfaces 156, and/or one or more network interfaces 158. Theprocessor(s) 152 may be configured to execute any number of softwareapplications and/or computer-readable or computer-executableinstructions. The memory devices 154 may include any number of suitablememory devices, such as caches, read-only memory devices, random accessmemory devices, magnetic storage devices, etc. The memory devices 154may store data, executable instructions, and/or various program modulesutilized by the processor(s) 152. Examples of data that may be stored bythe memory devices 154 include data files 160 and/or any number ofsuitable program modules that may be executed by the processor(s) 152,such as an operating system (“OS”) 162 and/or a rights managementapplication 164. The data files 160 may include any suitable data thatfacilitates the operation of the arbitration system 105, the receipt ofcontent requests, and/or the processing of content requests. Forexample, the data files 160 may include, but are not limited to,information that facilitates communication with other components of thesystem 100, information that facilitates the determination and/orassembly of access rights, information that facilitates a determinationof access requirements for requested content, and/or information thatfacilitates a determination of whether access should be granted forrequested content.

The OS 162 may be a suitable software module that controls the generaloperation of the arbitration system 105. The OS 162 may also facilitatethe execution of other software modules, for example, the rightsmanagement application 164. As desired, the arbitration system 105 mayadditionally include one or more host modules that facilitate theestablishment of a communications session with one or more customerdevices, such as mobile devices associated with customers. In thisregard, the arbitration system 105 may receive one or more contentrequests directly from a customer device. For example, a host module maybe configured to establish a communications session with a Web-enabledcustomer device, and a request for content may be received via anestablished communications session.

The rights management application 164 may be a suitable software moduleor software application that is configured to receive informationassociated with a content request, determine applicable access rightsassociated with a customer device 110 and/or a customer account, and/ordetermine whether access to the requested content should be granted. Inoperation, the arbitration system 105 and/or the rights managementapplication 164 may receive a request for content that is submitted by acustomer device utilizing any number of suitable networks, such as acable network or a satellite network. For example, a customer device 110(e.g., a set-top box, etc.) may be configured to communicate a requestas part of an upstream communication to a service provider head end(e.g., a cable provider head end). The request may be received by thesession resource management system 115 and provided to the arbitrationsystem 105. As another example, a customer device (e.g., a mobiledevice, a Web-enabled device, etc.) may communicate a content request toan arbitration system via a wide area network (e.g., the Internet).

Once a content request has been received, the rights managementapplication 164 may identify a customer account (e.g., a customerbilling account) with the service provider that is associated with theclient device 110. For example, a device identifier received inassociation with the request may be utilized to identify a customeraccount associated with the customer device 110. In certain embodiments,the rights management application 164 may communicate with the billingsystem 125 or another suitable component of the system 100 in order toidentify the customer account. For example, the rights managementapplication 164 may communicate the device identifier to the billingsystem 125, and the billing system 125 may return an account numberand/or other information associated with the customer account. Asanother example, account information and associated customer deviceinformation may be accessed or obtained from the billing system 125, andthe rights management application 164 may identify the customer accountby comparing the device identifier to at least a portion of the obtainedinformation.

Based upon the identification of a customer account, the rightsmanagement application 164 may identify one or more users associatedwith the customer account. For example, the rights managementapplication 164 may identify one or more customers that reside within asingle household or that are associated with a business customer. Incertain embodiments, the rights management application 164 maycommunicate with the identity management system 120 or another suitablecomponent of the system 100 in order to identify the customersassociated with the identified customer account. For example, the rightsmanagement application 164 may communicate a customer account identifier(e.g., a billing account number, a primary account holder name, etc.) tothe identity management system 120, and the identity management system120 may return a list of one or more users associated with the account.As another example, account information and associated user informationmay be accessed or obtained from the identity management system 120, andthe rights management application 164 may identify the users associatedwith a customer account by comparing information associated with theidentified customer account to at least a portion of the obtainedinformation.

According to an aspect of the invention, the rights managementapplication 164 may determine access rights associated with theidentified users. For example, access rights for each of the usersassociated with a customer account may be identified. A wide variety oftechniques and/or methods, such as the method 300 described in greaterdetail below with reference to FIG. 3, may be utilized to determine theaccess rights associated with the identified users. In certainembodiments, the rights management application 164 may identify one ormore rights locker accounts and/or other rights accounts associated witheach of the identified users. For example, information associated withrights locker accounts may be obtained from any number of databases,memory devices associated with the arbitration system 105, and/or fromone or more other components of the system 100, such as the identitymanagement system 120. Once a rights locker account has been identified,the rights management application 164 may communicate with the rightslocker 130 associated with the rights locker account in order toidentify or determine a user's access rights in association with therights locker account. For example, a request for access rightsassociated with an identified user may be communicated from the rightsmanagement application 164 to a relevant rights locker 130, and accessrights of the user may be determined based upon a response that isreceived from the rights locker. Alternatively, access rights for a userand a rights locker account may be determined based upon an analysis ofinformation stored in one or more, databases and/or memories accessibleby and/or associated with the arbitration system 105. As desired, accessrights may be determined for each of the rights locker accountsassociated with each of the identified users. In this regard, the rightsmanagement application 164 may determine the access rights for the usersassociated with an identified customer account.

Once the access rights for the one or more users associated with acustomer account have been determined, the rights management application164 may analyze or evaluate the determined access rights in order todetermine whether access to the requested content should be permitted.For example, the rights management application 164 may identify theaccess requirements for the content. As desired in various embodimentsof the invention, any number of access requirements and/or accesscharacteristics may be associated with content, including but notlimited to, a required access level for accessing the content, a numberof times the content may be accessed, a number of times the content maybe accessed within a predetermined time period, a duration of time forwhich the content may be accessed, one or more formatting requirementsand/or device capabilities for accessing the content, and/or any otherdigital rights management options.

Once the access requirements for the content have been identified, therights management application 164 may determine whether the customerdevice 110 from which the content request was received is permitted toaccess the content. For example, the rights management application 164may determine whether all of the users associated with a customeraccount are permitted to access the content. If all of the users arepermitted to access the content, then the rights management application164 may approve access of the content by the customer device 110. If,however, at least one user is not permitted to access the content, thenthe rights management application 164 may identify the user that isutilizing the customer device 110. For example, the rights managementapplication 164 may direct the communication of a request for useridentification and/or authentication information (e.g., user name andpassword, etc.) to the customer device 110 for presentation to the user.Based upon information included in a response to the request foridentification and/or authentication information, the rights managementapplication 164 may identify and/or authenticate the user. The rightsmanagement application 164 may then determine whether the access rightsassociated with the user authorize access to the requested content. Ifthe user is permitted to access the content, then the rights managementapplication 164 may approve access of the content by the customer device110. Otherwise, access to the requested content may be denied.

Additionally, in certain embodiments, the rights management application164 may determine whether the customer device 110 is capable of and/orpermitted to receive the requested content. For example, devicerequirements for outputting, displaying, and/or rendering the contentmay be compared to capabilities and/or specifications associated withthe customer device 110. As another example, various devicerestrictions, such as parental control restrictions, may be analyzed orevaluated in order to determine whether the customer device 110 ispermitted to receive the requested content. If it is determined that thecustomer device 110 is permitted to receive the requested content, thenthe rights management application 164 may approve the content forcommunication or output to the customer device 110. As desired, if it isdetermined that the customer device 110 is not capable of and/orpermitted to receive the requested content, then an appropriate errormessage may be generated and communicated to the customer device 110and/or the requested content may be stored for subsequent access by theuser utilizing a different customer device 110.

If it is determined that the user and/or the customer device 110 ispermitted to access and receive the requested content, then the rightsmanagement application 164 may direct a rights locker 130 and/orassociated content provider 135 that maintains the content tocommunicate the content to the customer device 110. Alternatively, therights management application 164 may obtain the content from the rightslocker 130, content provider 135, and/or another data source (e.g., amemory device associated with the arbitration system 105), and therights management application 164 may communicate or direct thecommunication of the content to the customer device 110. In certainembodiments, such as embodiments in which the content is provided to acustomer device 110 via a broadband communications system (e.g., a cablesystem, satellite system, etc.), the content may be provided to one ormore storage/streamer systems 140 for incorporation into a broadbandsignal or broadband data stream and ultimate communication to thecustomer device 110 (e.g., set-top box).

In certain embodiments of the invention, if no users are permittedaccess to the requested content or the requesting user is not permittedaccess to the requested content, then the rights management application164 may communicate with an appropriate offer management system 145 tofacilitate the presentation of an offer to the user to purchase therequested content. For example, the rights management application 164may communicate an indication of the requested content to the offermanagement system 145. The offer management system 145 may generate anoffer to purchase the desired content and direct the communication ofthe offer to the customer device 110 via any number of suitablenetworks. Based upon a received response to the generated offer, theoffer management system 145 may determine whether the user has acceptedthe purchase offer. If a purchase offer has been accepted, then theoffer management system 145, the billing system 125, and/or othersuitable components of the system 100 may facilitate a purchasetransaction of the desired content. A message may then be generated andcommunicated to an applicable rights locker 130 indicating that the userhas purchased the desired content and requesting a modification, update,and/or establishment of access rights to the content for the user. Therights management application 164 may then determine that the user hasrights to access the content and, as desired, the rights managementapplication 164 may direct the communication of the content to thecustomer device 110.

With continued reference to the arbitration system 105, the one or moreI/O interfaces 156 may facilitate communication between the arbitrationsystem 105 and one or more input/output devices, for example, one ormore user interface devices, such as a display, keypad, mouse, pointingdevice, control panel, touch screen display, remote control, microphone,speaker, etc., that facilitate user interaction with the arbitrationsystem 105. In this regard, user commands may be received by thearbitration system 105.

The one or more network interfaces 158 may facilitate connection of thearbitration system 105 to one or more suitable networks, for example, abroadband network (e.g., a cable network, satellite network, etc.), awide area network, the Internet, a local area network, a Wi-Fi enablednetwork, a Bluetooth enabled network, a cellular network, atelecommunications network, any suitable wired network, any suitablewireless network, etc. In this regard, the arbitration system 105 mayreceive and/or communicate information to other components of the system100, such as the session resource management system 115, the identitymanagement system 120, the billing system 125, the rights lockers 130,etc.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, any number of customer devices 110may be provided. One example of a suitable customer device is aprogramming processing component and/or software module that is capableof receiving and processing a broadband signal (e.g., a cable signal,satellite signal, etc.) output by a service provider. Examples ofsuitable programming processing components include, but are not limitedto, a set-top box (“STB”) (e.g., a cable STB, a digital satellite STB,an Internet Protocol Television STB, etc.), a virtual STB, an embeddedSTB, etc. In certain embodiments, a programming processing component maybe connected to a display device associated with a customer, such as atelevision. In other embodiments, a programming processing component maybe embedded, incorporated into, and/or executed on the display device.For purposes of this disclosure, the customer devices 110 that arecapable of processing broadband signals will be referred to as set-topboxes 110. In operation, a STB 110 may receive at least a portion of abroadband data signal that is output by a service provider and convertat least a portion of the received signal into content which isdisplayed or otherwise output by the display device. As desired, the STBmay receive a broadband data signal via any number of suitable networks,such as a cable network that includes any number of optical fibers,coaxial cables, and/or cable drops, a satellite network that includes asuitable satellite dish and/or connecting cables, and/or other suitablenetworks. Additionally, any number of intermediary devices, such asbroadband modems, routers, etc., may be situated between the source of abroadband signal and the programming processing component. According toan aspect of the invention, any number of set-top boxes may beassociated with a customer and/or a customer account.

In addition to customer devices that communicate with a service providerhead end via a service provider network, a wide variety of other typesof customer devices may be utilized by a user to communicate with thearbitration system 105. For example, any number of customer devices thatutilize other types of networks, such as mobile devices, personalcomputers, Web-enabled devices, etc., may be configured to communicaterequests for desired content to the arbitration system 105 and/oranother component of the system 100 associated with the service providervia any number of suitable networks, such as the Internet, a wide areanetwork, a Wi-Fi network, etc. For example, a request for content may besubmitted utilizing any number of suitable Web pages or other graphicaluser interfaces that are hosted by the service provider.

A customer device 110, such as a STB, may be a suitable processor-drivendevice that facilitates the receipt, processing, and/or output of abroadband signal, broadband data, and/or other data. Additionally, thecustomer device 110 may be a suitable processor-driven device thatfacilitates the receipt of a customer request or command to accessdesired content, such as desired broadband content (e.g., movies,television shows, etc.), desired analog and/or digital content (e.g.,music content, video content, etc.) and/or other desired content. Assuch, the customer device 110 may include any number of suitablecomputing devices or other processing components that are configured toexecute suitable computer-implemented instructions orcomputer-executable instructions in order to form a special purposecomputer or other particular machine that is operable to facilitate therequest of desired content, the receipt of content, and/or thepresentation or output of received content.

In operation, a user or customer may utilize a customer device 110 toselect or otherwise identify content that the user desires to access.For example, the user may navigate through an electronic program guide(“EPG”) that is output by a STB and/or through any number of Web pagesand/or graphical user interfaces that are displayed or presented to theuser via a customer device 110 or at the direction of a customer device110. Once a user has selected desired content, the user may utilize oneor more input devices associated with the customer device 110, such as aremote control, a touch screen display, a keypad, a microphone, a mouse,a keyboard, etc., to enter a command associated with requesting thedesired content. The customer device 110 may be configured to generatean access request associated with the desired content, and the requestmay be communicated to the arbitration system 105 via any number ofsuitable networks (e.g., a cable network, a satellite network, theInternet, a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, etc.).

The customer device 110 may further be configured to receive the desiredcontent and output at least a portion of the content for display to auser. For example, if the arbitration system 105 determines that thecustomer device 110 is permitted to access the desired content, thedesired content may be communicated to the customer device 110 by thestorage/streamer system(s) 140 and/or other components of the system 100via any number of suitable networks. Additionally, as desired, thecustomer device 110 may be configured to receive requests for useridentification and/or authentication information and prompt the user toinput the requested information. The customer device 110 may then outputentered user identification and/or authentication information forreceipt by the arbitration system 105. Additionally, in certainembodiments, the customer device 110 may be configured to receivevarious purchase offers for desired content, output purchase offers fordisplay or other presentation to a user, receive user commandsassociated with output purchase offers (e.g., user acceptance, userdenial, etc.), and process received user commands in order to direct thecommunication of a response to a purchase offer to the offer managementsystem 145 and/or the arbitration system 105.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the session resource managementsystem 115 may be a suitable device, server, and/or component of thesystem 100 that facilitates the receipt of upstream communications fromcustomer devices 110, such as customer set-top box devices, via aservice provider network (e.g., a cable network, satellite network,etc.). As such, the session resource management system 115 may beassociated with an underlying service provider, such as a cable serviceprovider, satellite service provider, or other service provider. Similarto other components of the system 100, the session resource managementsystem 115 may be a suitable processor-driven device that is configuredto execute computer-readable, computer-implemented, orcomputer-executable instructions. The execution of suitablecomputer-implemented instructions by the session resource managementsystem 115 may form a special purpose computer or other particularmachine that is operable to facilitate upstream communications with anynumber of customer devices 110. Although a single session resourcemanagement system 115 is illustrated, the operations and/or control ofthe session resource management system 115 may be distributed among anynumber of devices, computers, and/or processing components.

In operation, the session resource management system 115 may receive anupstream communication from a customer device 110 via a service providernetwork, such as a cable network. For example, the session resourcemanagement system 115 may receive a request from a customer device 110to communicate upstream content to a service provider head end. Thesession resource management system 115 may process the received requestand communicate various timing, frequency, and/or protocol parameters tothe customer device 110. For example, the session resource managementsystem 115 may instruct the customer device 110 to communicate theupstream content at a particular time utilizing a specified frequency orchannel. The session resource management system 115 may the receive theupstream communication from the customer device. The session resourcemanagement system 115 may analyze the received communication anddetermine whether the communication includes a request for access todesired content. If the session resource management system 115determines that a communication includes a request for access to desiredcontent, then the session resource management system 115 may provide therequest to access desired content to the arbitration system 105 forprocessing.

The identity management system 120 may be a suitable device, server,and/or component of the system 100 that facilitates the identificationof one or more users associated with a customer account (e.g., acustomer billing account) with a service provider. As such, the identitymanagement system 120 may be associated with an underlying serviceprovider, such as a cable service provider, satellite service provider,or other service provider. Similar to other components of the system100, the identity management system 120 may be a suitableprocessor-driven device that is configured to execute computer-readable,computer-implemented, or computer-executable instructions. The executionof suitable computer-implemented instructions by the identity managementsystem 120 may form a special purpose computer or other particularmachine that is operable to facilitate the identification of one or moreusers associated with a customer account and/or the identification ofone or more rights locker accounts associated with each of the users.Although a single identity management system 120 is illustrated, theoperations and/or control of the identity management system 120 may bedistributed among any number of devices, computers, and/or processingcomponents.

In operation, the identity management system 120 may receive a requestto identify one or more users associated with an identified customeraccount. For example, the identity management system 120 may receive arequest from the arbitration system 105 to identify one or more usersassociated with a customer account. The identity management system 120may utilize an identifier of the customer account (e.g., an accountnumber, a portion of an account number, etc.) to access stored userinformation, such as a database or other data file that includes alisting of users associated with customer accounts. Based at least inpart upon the stored user information, the identity management system120 may identify one or more users associated with a customer account.As desired, the identity management system 120 may additionally identifyany number of rights locker accounts associated with the users. Theidentity management system 120 may communicate user information (e.g.,user names, user identification numbers, etc.) and/or rights lockeraccount information (e.g., rights locker account numbers, contentproviders and/or rights locker systems associated with rights lockeraccounts, etc.) to the arbitration system 105.

The billing system 125 may be a suitable device, server, and/orcomponent of the system 100 that facilitates the identification of acustomer account (e.g., a customer billing account with a serviceprovider) that is associated with a customer device 110. As such, thebilling system 125 may be associated with an underlying serviceprovider, such as a cable service provider, satellite service provider,or other service provider. Similar to other components of the system100, the billing system 125 may be a suitable processor-driven devicethat is configured to execute computer-readable, computer-implemented,or computer-executable instructions. The execution of suitablecomputer-implemented instructions by the billing system 125 may form aspecial purpose computer or other particular machine that is operable tofacilitate the identification of a customer account that is associatedwith a customer device 110. Although a single billing system 125 isillustrated, the operations and/or control of the billing system 125 maybe distributed among any number of devices, computers, and/or processingcomponents.

In operation, the billing system 125 may receive a request to identify acustomer account that is associated with a customer device 110 fromwhich a request has been received to access desired content. Forexample, the billing system 125 may receive a request from thearbitration system 105 to identify a customer account associated with acustomer device 110. The billing system 125 may utilize an identifier ofthe customer device 110 (e.g., a device serial number, an IP address,etc.) to access stored customer account information, such as a databaseor other data file that includes a listing of customer accounts andtheir associated customer devices. Based at least in part upon thestored customer account information, the billing system 125 may identifya customer account associated with the customer device 110. The billingsystem 125 may communicate information associated with the identifiedcustomer account (e.g., an account number, etc.) to the arbitrationsystem 105.

According to an aspect of the invention, any number of rights lockers130 or rights locker systems may be utilized in association withembodiments of the invention. A rights locker 130 may be a suitabledevice, server, and/or other component that facilitates the control ofaccess to content (e.g., broadband content, digital content, etc.) byvarious users and/or customer devices 110. Each rights locker 130 may beassociated with a content provider 135, such as a broadcast entity,pay-per-view entity, digital video production entity, digital musicwarehouse, etc. A content provider 135 may include any number ofsuitable devices and/or systems that are configured to maintain and/oroutput various content. Similar to other components of the system 100, arights locker 130 and/or a content provider 135 system may each beand/or include any number of suitable processor-driven devices that areconfigured to execute computer-readable, computer-implemented, orcomputer-executable instructions. The execution of suitablecomputer-implemented instructions by rights locker 130 may form aspecial purpose computer or other particular machine that is operable tofacilitate the control of access to content associated with a contentprovider. Additionally, the execution of suitable computer-implementedinstructions by the rights locker 130 may form a special purposecomputer or other particular machine that is operable to facilitate theprovision of access rights information to the arbitration system 105.

In operation, a rights locker 130 may receive one or more requests fromthe arbitration system 105 for access rights information associated withrights locker accounts for any number of users having accounts with therights lockers. A request may include identifying information for theone or more users (e.g., user names, etc.) and/or identifyinginformation for one or more rights locker accounts (e.g., rights lockeraccount numbers, etc.). As desired, a request may additionally includeidentifying information associated with the desired content. In responseto a received request, the rights locker 130 may identify and/ordetermine access rights for the one or more users, and the rights locker130 may return information associated with the identified access rightsto the arbitration system 105. In certain embodiments, various devicerequirements and/or parameters for accessing the desired content mayalso be provided to the arbitration system 105. In this regard, thearbitration system 105 may determine whether access to the requestedcontent should be permitted. Additionally, in certain embodiments, therights locker 130 may be configured to receive requests to providedesired content to a customer device 110. The rights locker 130 mayverify that a user associated with the customer device 110 haspermission to access the desired content, and the rights locker 130 maydirect the output of the desired content to the customer device 110. Forexample, the rights locker 130 may obtain the desired content from acontent provider 135 system and provide the desired content to asuitable storage/streamer system 140.

The storage/streamer system(s) 140 may include any number of suitablesystems, devices, and/or components that are configured to incorporatedesired content into a broadband signal (e.g., a cable signal, satellitesignal, etc.) that is output by a service provider for receipt bycustomer devices 110. For example, a storage/streamer system 140 mayreceive content from a rights locker 130 or content provider 135, andthe storage/streamer system 140 may incorporate or direct theincorporation of the desired content into the broadband signal, such asan audio and video stream that is output by a service provider.

The offer management system 145 may be a suitable device, server, and/orcomponent of the system 100 that facilitates the generation of purchaseoffers for desired content. As such, the offer management system 145 maybe associated with an underlying service provider, such as a cableservice provider, satellite service provider, or other service provider.Similar to other components of the system 100, the offer managementsystem 145 may be a suitable processor-driven device that is configuredto execute computer-readable, computer-implemented, orcomputer-executable instructions. The execution of suitablecomputer-implemented instructions by the offer management system 145 mayform a special purpose computer or other particular machine that isoperable to facilitate the generation of purchase offers for desiredcontent that a user does not have permission to access. Although asingle offer management system 145 is illustrated, the operations and/orcontrol of the offer management system 145 may be distributed among anynumber of devices, computers, and/or processing components.

In operation, the offer management system 145 may receive an indicationfrom the arbitration system 105 that a user does not have permission orrights to access certain desired content. The indication may includeinformation associated with the user, a customer device 110, and/or thedesired content. The offer management system 145 may identify purchasingparameters associated with the desired content, such as one or morepricing schemes associated with the desired content. Based upon theidentified purchasing parameters, the offer management system 145 maygenerate one or more purchase offers for the desired content and directthe output of the one or more purchase offers for communication to thecustomer device 110 and presentation to the user. In the event that apurchase offer is accepted, the offer management system 145 may receivean indication that the offer has been accepted, and the offer managementsystem 145 may facilitate the completion of a purchase transaction forthe desired content. For example, the offer management system 145 maydirect the billing system 125 to charge a customer account for apurchase amount associated with the offer. The offer management system145 and/or the billing system 125 may then communicate an indication ofthe purchase of access rights to the desired content to the arbitrationsystem 105, an applicable rights locker 130, and/or another component ofthe system 100.

Communications between various components of the system 100 may befacilitated via any number of suitable networks, such as a cablenetwork, a satellite network, and/or other networks that facilitatecommunications. The networks may include any telecommunication and/ordata networks, whether public, private, or a combination thereof,including but not limited to, a local area network, a wide area network,an intranet, the Internet, public switched telephone networks, satellitenetworks, cable networks, and/or any combination thereof and may bewired and/or wireless.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the system 100shown in and described with respect to FIG. 1 is provided by way ofexample only. Numerous other operating environments, systemarchitectures, and device configurations are possible. Other systemembodiments can include fewer or greater numbers of components and mayincorporate some or all of the functionality described with respect tothe system components shown in FIG. 1.

Operational Overview

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a flow diagram of an example method 200 formanaging rights to broadband content, according to an example embodimentof the invention. The method 200 may be performed by a suitablearbitration server or arbitration system and/or other components of aservice provider system, such as the arbitration system 105 illustratedin FIG. 1. The method 200 may begin at block 205.

At block 205, a request for desired content, such as desired broadbanddigital content (e.g., movie content, television content, other videocontent, music content, other audio content, etc.), may be received. Arequest for desired content may be received from a suitable customerdevice, such as the customer device 110 illustrated in FIG. 1, via anynumber of suitable networks, such as a broadband network (e.g., cablenetwork, satellite network, etc.), another network provided by a serviceprovider, a wide area network (e.g., the Internet, etc.), a cellularnetwork, a Wi-Fi enabled network, etc. Additionally, the request mayinclude a client identifier (e.g., a client identifier for the customerdevice, a device serial number, an IP address, etc.) and/or otheridentification information associated with the customer device 110. Therequest may also include an identifier of the desired content.

At block 210, a customer device 110 from which the content request wasreceived may be identified. For example, the customer device 110 may beidentified based upon a client identifier included in the receivedcontent request. At block 215, a billing account associated with thecustomer device 110 may be identified. For example, the clientidentifier may be utilized to access a data repository of customeraccount or billing account information associated with customers of theservice provider. A billing account that the customer device 110 isassociated with may be identified based upon the access of the storedinformation. In certain embodiments, a billing system, such as thebilling system 125 illustrated in FIG. 1, may be requested and/ordirected to identify the billing account associated with the customerdevice 110. For example, an arbitration system 105 may communicate theclient identifier to the billing system 125 along with a request toidentify the billing account. The billing system 125 may utilize theclient identifier to access and/or search billing account information,and the billing system 125 may return information associated with anidentified billing account (e.g., an account number, etc.) to thearbitration system 105. Operations may then continue at block 220.

At block 220, one or more users associated with the identified billingaccount may be identified or determined. For example, an identifier ofthe billing account (e.g., a billing account number) may be utilized toaccess a data repository of user information. One or more usersassociated with the billing account may be identified based upon theaccess of the stored information. In certain embodiments, an identitymanagement system, such as the identity management system 120illustrated in FIG. 1, may be requested and/or directed to identify theusers associated with the billing account. For example, an arbitrationsystem 105 may communicate information associated with the billingaccount (e.g., a billing account number) to the identity managementsystem 120 along with a request to identify the users associated withthe billing, account. The identity management system 120 may utilize thebilling account information to access and/or search stored userinformation, and the identity management system may return informationassociated with identified users (e.g., user names, user identifiers,information associated with rights lockers for the users, etc.) to thearbitration system 105. Operations may then continue at block 225.

At block 225, access rights for the identified one or more users may bedetermined. A wide variety of suitable methods and/or techniques may beutilized as desired to determine access rights for the one or moreusers. For example, rights locker accounts associated with each of theone or more users may be identified, and access rights for the userswith the various rights locker accounts may be determined. One exampleof the operations that may be utilized to determine access rights forthe one or more users is described in greater detail below withreference to FIG. 3.

At block 230, one or more access rights requirements associated with thedesired content may be identified or determined. For example, a requestfor access rights requirements may be communicated to a rights lockerthat controls access to the desired content, and the one or more accessrights requirements may be received in response to the request. Asanother example, local memory may be accessed and/or searched in orderto determine access rights requirements for the desired content. A widevariety of access rights requirements may be associated with content asdesired in various embodiments of the invention, including but notlimited to, a required access level for accessing the content, a numberof times the content may be accessed, a number of times the content maybe accessed within a predetermined time period, a duration of time forwhich the content may be accessed, one or more formatting requirementsand/or device capabilities for accessing the content, and/or any otherdigital rights management options.

At block 235, a determination may be made as to whether the determineduser access rights authorize access to the desired content. For example,the determined access rights for the one or more users may be analyzedand/or evaluated. Based upon an evaluation of the user access rightsand/or the access requirements for the content, a determination may bemade as to whether access to the desired content is authorized orpermitted by the user access rights. As desired, any number of accessrights for the various users may be taken into account when determiningwhether user access rights permit access to the desired content. Oneexample of the operations that may be performed in order to determinewhether access to the content is authorized is described in greaterdetail below with reference to FIG. 4.

At block 240, a determination may be made as to whether access to thedesired content has been authorized based upon the evaluation performedat block 235. If it is determined at block 240 that access to thedesired content has been authorized, then operations may continue atblock 245. At block 245, a determination may be made as to whether thecustomer device 110 from which the content request was received ispermitted to and/or capable of receiving the desired content. Forexample, device requirements for outputting, displaying, and/orrendering the content may be compared to capabilities and/orspecifications associated with the customer device 110. As anotherexample, various device restrictions, such as parental controlrestrictions, may be analyzed or evaluated in order to determine whetherthe customer device 110 is permitted to receive the requested content.If it is determined at block 245 that the customer device 110 ispermitted to receive the requested content, then operations may continueat block 250, and the customer device 110 may be authorized to receivethe requested content. As desired, a rights locker and/or contentprovider may be provided with authentication information for the desiredcontent and directed to output the desired content for receipt by thecustomer device 110. If, however, it is determined at block 245 that thecustomer device 110 is not permitted to receive the requested content,then operations may continue at block 255.

At block 255, which may be optional in certain embodiments of theinvention, it may be determined that the user is authorized to accessthe desired content; however, the user is not permitted to access thecontent utilizing the customer device 110. The desired content may beobtained from a content provider and/or rights locker and stored in oneor more suitable memory devices and/or memory locations for subsequentaccess and/or retrieval by the user. As one example, the desired contentmay be stored in a memory location associated with the user. The usermay utilize another customer device at a subsequent point in time toaccess the desired content.

If, however, it is determined at block 240 that access to the desiredcontent is not authorized, then operation may either end or optionallycontinue at block 260. At block 260, one or more offers to purchase thedesired content and/or access rights to the desired content may begenerated. For example, one or more offers may be generated by asuitable offer management system, such as the offer management system145 illustrated in FIG. 1. Any number of purchase offers may begenerated as desired in various embodiments of the invention, such aspurchase offers relating to different levels of access to the content(e.g., purchase of a copy of the content, purchase of the rights toaccess the content a certain number of times, purchase of the rights toaccess the content for a certain time period, etc.). At block 265, theone or more generated offers may be communicated to the customer device110 for presentation to and/or output to the user by the customer device110. For example, the offer management system 145 and/or the arbitrationsystem 105 may direct a head end component associated with a serviceprovider to communicate the one or more offers to the customer device110.

At block 270, a response to a purchase offer may be received from thecustomer device 110. Similar to the request for desired content, theresponse to a purchase offer may be received via any number of suitablenetworks and/or communications techniques. At block 275, a determinationmay be made as to whether an offer has been accepted by the user. If itis determined at block 275 that no offers have been accepted, thenoperations may end. If, however, it is determined at block 275 that atleast one offer has been accepted, then the accepted offer(s) may beidentified and operations may continue at block 280. At block 280, apurchase of the desired content and/or access rights to the desiredcontent may be facilitated. For example, a billing system 125 may beinstructed to bill the customer billing account for an amount associatedwith the accepted offer. Once access rights to the desired content havebeen purchased, the user may be permitted to access the desired contentin a similar manner to that described above with respect to blocks 240,245, 250, and 255.

The method 200 may end following either block 250, 255, 275, or 280.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example method 300 for determining accessrights for one or more users that are associated with a billing account,according to an example embodiment of the invention. The method 300 maybe one example of the operations that may be performed at block 225illustrated in FIG. 2A. As such, the method 300 may be performed by asuitable arbitration server or arbitration system and/or othercomponents of a service provider system, such as the arbitration system105 illustrated in FIG. 1. The method 300 may begin at block 305.

At block 305, a next user associated with a customer billing account maybe identified and selected. At block 310, a determination may be made asto whether the end of the users associated with the customer billingaccount has been reached. If it is determined at block 310 that the endof the users has been reached, then operations may end. If, however, itis determined at block 310 that the end of the users has not beenreached, then operations may continue at block 315.

At block 315, one or more rights locker accounts associated with theselected user may be identified. For example, information received froman identity management system, such as the identity management system120 illustrated in FIG. 1, for the user may be utilized to identify oneor more rights locker accounts and/or associated rights lockers for theselected user. As another example, stored rights locker accountinformation may be accessed utilizing an identifier for the user (e.g.,a user name, user identification number, etc.), and one or more rightslocker accounts and/or associated rights lockers may be identified basedupon the accessed information.

At block 320, a next rights locker account associated with the selecteduser may be identified and selected. At block 325, a determination maybe made as to whether the end of the rights locker accounts associatedwith the selected user has been reached. If it is determined at block325 that the end of the rights locker accounts has been reached, thenoperations may continue at block 305, and a next user may be selected.If, however, it is determined at block 325 that the end of the rightslocker accounts has not been reached, then operations may continue atblock 330.

At block 330, a determination may be made as to whether stored accessrights information for the user and the selected rights locker accountare available for access. For example, a determination may be made as towhether access rights information for the rights locker account isstored in a memory that is accessible by the arbitration system 105. Ifit is determined at block 330 that stored access rights information isavailable, then the stored access rights information for the user may beaccessed and/or obtained, and operations may continue at block 345described in greater detail below. If, however, it is determined atblock 330 that stored access rights information is not available, thenoperations may continue at block 335.

At block 335, a rights locker or rights locker system associated withthe selected rights locker account, such as the rights locker 130illustrated in FIG. 1, may be identified. A request for user accessrights to the rights locker may be generated and communicated to therights locker 130 via any number of suitable networks and/or networkcommunication techniques. For example, an identification of the rightslocker account (e.g., a rights locker account number) may becommunicated to the rights locker 130 along with a request for accessrights information associated with the rights locker account and theuser. The rights locker 130 may receive and process the request todetermine access rights associated with the rights locker account, suchas access permission levels, user subscription information, contentaccess rights, content restrictions, etc. The rights locker 130 may thencommunicate, to the arbitration system 105, a response to the requestthat includes information associated with the determined access rights.The response from the rights locker may be received at block 340, andoperations may continue at block 345.

At block 345, the access rights for the selected user and the selectedrights locker account may be determined or identified based uponaccessed stored information and/or information received from a suitablerights locker or administrator of the rights locker account. As statedabove, a wide variety of different types of access rights may beidentified and/or determined as desired in various embodiments of theinvention. Operations may then continue at block 320, and a next rightslocker account associated with the selected user may be identified andselected for processing.

The method 300 may end following a determination at block 310 that anend of a set of one or more users has been reached and/or that theaccess rights for the users associated with a customer billing accounthave been determined. Although the operations of the method 300 areillustrated in FIG. 3 as iterative operations, any number of theoperations may be performed in parallel. For example, access rights formultiple users and/or multiple rights locker accounts may be determinedin parallel.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example method 400 for determiningwhether access to broadband content is authorized, according to anexample embodiment of the invention. The method 400 may be one exampleof the operations that may be performed at block 235 illustrated in FIG.2A. As such, the method 400 may be performed by a suitable arbitrationserver or arbitration system and/or other components of a serviceprovider system, such as the arbitration system 105 illustrated inFIG. 1. The method 400 may begin at block 405.

At block 405, a determination may be made as to whether a plurality ofusers are associated with a customer billing account. If it isdetermined at block 405 that only a single user is associated with thecustomer billing account, then operations may continue at block 410. Atblock 410, a determination may be made as to whether the user isauthorized or permitted to access the desired content. For example, theuser access rights for a rights locker account associated with thedesired content may be identified. The access requirements or accessrestrictions associated with the desired content may be compared orotherwise evaluated in light of the identified user access rights. Adetermination of whether the user is authorized or permitted to accessthe desired content may then be made based upon the comparison orevaluation.

If it is determined at block 410 that the user is not authorized toaccess the desired content, then operations may continue at block 415,and the desired content may be marked or identified as unauthorized foraccess by the user. In other words, the received request for the desiredcontent may be marked as unauthorized or denied. If, however, it isdetermined at block 410 that the user is authorized to access thedesired content, then operations may continue at block 420, and thedesired content may be marked or identified as authorized for access bythe user. In other words, the received request for the desired contentmay be marked as authorized or approved.

If, however, it is determined at block 405 that a plurality of users areassociated with a customer billing account, then operations may continueat block 425. At block 425, a determination may be made as to whetherall of the users associated with the customer billing account areauthorized to access the desired content. For example, a determinationmay be made as to whether universal access to the desired content isauthorized by one or more of the rights locker accounts. As anotherexample, a determination may be made as to whether all of the users haverights to access the desired content. If it is determined at block 425that all of the users associated with the customer billing account areauthorized to access the desired content, then operations may continueat block 420 described above. If, however, it is determined at block 425that not all of the users are authorized to access the desired contentand/or that universal access rights are not permitted, then operationsmay continue at block 430.

At block 430, a request for user identification and/or userauthentication information (e.g., a user name, a password, a securitycode, a security token, etc.) may be generated. The generated requestmay be communicated to the customer device 110 at block 435. Thecustomer device 110 may receive the request and prompt the user to enterthe requested identification and/or authentication information. Thecustomer device 110 may return the requested information to thearbitration system 105, and the requested information may be received atblock 440. At block 445, the received user identification and/orauthentication information may be evaluated and utilized to identifyand/or authenticate the user of the customer device 110. Operations maythen continue at block 450.

At block 450, which may be similar to block 410, a determination may bemade as to whether the identified user is authorized or permitted toaccess the desired content. For example, the user access rights for arights locker account associated with the desired content may beidentified. The access requirements or access restrictions associatedwith the desired content may be compared or otherwise evaluated in lightof the identified user access rights. A determination of whether theidentified user is authorized or permitted to access the desired contentmay then be made based upon the comparison or evaluation.

If it is determined at block 450 that the identified user is notauthorized to access the desired content, then operations may continueat block 415, and the desired content may be marked or identified asunauthorized for access by the identified user. In other words, thereceived request for the desired content may be marked as unauthorizedor denied. If, however, it is determined at block 450 that the user isauthorized to access the desired content, then operations may continueat block 420, and the desired content may be marked or identified asauthorized for access by the identified user. In other words, thereceived request for the desired content may be marked as authorized orapproved.

The method 400 may end following either block 415 or 420.

The operations described and shown in the methods 200, 300, and 400 ofFIGS. 2A, 2B, 3 and 4 may be carried out or performed in any suitableorder as desired in various embodiments of the invention. Additionally,in certain embodiments, at least a portion of the operations may becarried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, less thanor more than the operations described in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3, and 4 may beperformed.

Various block and/or flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatus,and/or computer program products according to example embodiments of theinvention are described above. It will be understood that one or moreblocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, respectively, can beimplemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, someblocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily needto be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need tobe performed at all, according to some embodiments of the invention.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meansthat implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram blockor blocks. As an example, embodiments of the invention may provide for acomputer program product, comprising a computer-usable medium having acomputer-readable program code or program instructions embodied therein,said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implementone or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. Thecomputer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, can be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

1. A method for managing rights to broadband content, the methodcomprising: receiving, by a server comprising one or more computers, arequest for broadband content, the request comprising a clientidentifier associated with a customer device from which the request isreceived and a content identifier associated with the requestedbroadband content; identifying, by the server based upon the clientidentifier, a billing account associated with the customer device;identifying, by the server, a plurality of users associated with thebilling account; determining, by the server, a set of access rightscomprising respective rights for each of the plurality of users based atleast in part upon collecting access rights information from one or moreexternal rights locker devices associated with one or more contentproviders; and determining, by the server based upon an analysis of theset of access rights, whether access to the broadband content isauthorized.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received requestfurther comprises an identifier of a desired permission level foraccessing the broadband content, and wherein determining whether accessto the broadband content is authorized comprises determining whether theset of access rights permits access of the broadband content at thedesired permission level.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determininga set of access rights comprises: identifying, by the server for each ofthe plurality of users, one or more respective rights locker accounts;and determining, by the server for each of the plurality of users,access rights associated with each of the identified one or morerespective rights locker accounts.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereindetermining access rights associated with each of the identified rightslocker accounts comprises: communicating, by the server via a network toa respective rights locker device included in the one or more externalrights locker devices and associated with each of the identified one ormore rights locker accounts, at least one request for access rightsinformation associated with the plurality of users; receiving, by theserver in response to the at least one request, the access rightsinformation; and determining the access rights based upon an analysis ofthe received access rights information.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein determining whether access to the broadband content isauthorized comprises determining that each of the plurality of users isauthorized to access the broadband content, and further comprising:directing, by the server, that the customer device be permitted accessto the broadband content.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein determiningwhether access to the broadband content is authorized comprisesdetermining that at least one of the plurality of users is notauthorized to access the broadband content, and further comprising:directing, by the server, the communication of a request to the customerdevice for user authentication information; receiving, by the server inresponse to the request for user authentication information, the userauthentication information; and determining, by the server based atleast in part on an analysis of the user authentication information,whether the customer device is permitted to access the broadbandcontent.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether access tothe broadband content is authorized comprises determining that access tothe broadband content is not authorized, and further comprising:directing, by the server, the communication of an offer to the customerdevice for purchasing access to the broadband content.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: receiving, by the server from the customerdevice, an acceptance of the offer; and facilitating, by the server, apurchase of additional rights to the broadband content.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving a request for broadband content comprisesreceiving a request from one of (i) a set-top box, (ii) a mobile device,(iii) a Web-enabled device, or (iv) a streaming video client.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining whether access to the broadbandcontent is authorized further comprises determining whether access tothe broadband content is permitted for the customer device.
 11. A systemfor managing rights to broadband content, the system comprising: atleast one communications interface configured to receive, from acustomer device, a request for broadband content, the request comprisinga client identifier associated with the customer device and a contentidentifier associated with the requested broadband content; and at leastone processor configured to (i) identify, based upon the clientidentifier, a billing account associated with the customer device, (ii)identify a plurality of users associated with the billing account, (iii)determine a set of access rights comprising respective rights for eachof the plurality of users based at least in part upon collecting accessrights information from one or more external rights locker devicesassociated with one or more content providers, and (iv) determine, basedupon an analysis of the set of access rights, whether access to thebroadband content is authorized.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein:the received request further comprises an identifier of a desiredpermission level for accessing the broadband content, and the at leastone processor is configured to determine whether access to the broadbandcontent is authorized by determining whether the set of access rightspermits access of the broadband content at the desired permission level.13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to determine the set of access rights by: identifying, foreach of the plurality of users, one or more respective rights lockeraccounts; and determining, for each of the plurality of users, accessrights associated with each of the identified one or more respectiverights locker accounts.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at leastone processor is configured to determine access rights associated witheach of the identified rights locker accounts by: directing the at leastone communications interface to communicate, via a network, to arespective rights locker device included in the one or more externalrights locker devices and associated with each of the identified one ormore rights locker accounts, at least one request for access rightsinformation associated with the plurality of users; receiving, via theat least one communications interface in response to the at least onerequest, the access rights information; and determining the accessrights based upon an analysis of the received access rights information.15. The system of claim 13, wherein: it is determined that each of theplurality of users is authorized to access the broadband content, andthe at least one processor is further configured to direct that thecustomer device be permitted access to the broadband content.
 16. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein: it is determined that at least one of theplurality of users is not authorized to access the broadband content,and the at least one processor is further configured to (i) direct theat least one communications interface to communicated, to the customerdevice, a request for user authentication information, (ii) receive, viathe at least one communications interface in response to the request foruser authentication information, the user authentication information,and (iii) determine, based at least in part on an analysis of the userauthentication information, whether the customer device is permitted toaccess the broadband content.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein: it isdetermined that access to the broadband content is not authorized, andthe at least one processor is further configured to direct thecommunication of an offer to the customer device for purchasing accessto the broadband content.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to (i) receive, from thecustomer device via the at least one communications interface, anacceptance of the offer, and (ii) facilitate a purchase of additionalrights to the broadband content.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein thecustomer device comprises one of (i) a set-top box, (ii) a mobiledevice, (iii) a Web enabled device, or (iv) a streaming video client.20. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to (i) determine whether access to the broadbandcontent is permitted for the customer device, and (ii) determine whetheraccess to the broadband content is authorized based upon thedetermination of whether access is permitted for the customer device.